Season 1 (Pandora)
'Season 1 '''of ''Pandora ''ran between October 10th, 2008 and December 19th, 2008 as a limited series-run of 10 episodes, beginning with "Pandora" and concluding with ''Murder I Never Wanted to Commit. The series begins with the break-down of the towns community, police-force, and specifically four students lives after the murder of a teenage girl named Charlotte Gibbins (Gina Rodriguez). Throughout the season Amber Hotchkiss (Yara Shahidi), Andrew Corner (Shawn Pyfrom), Eleanor Oxbridge (Amanda Seyfried) and Richard Bolton (Nathan Kress) get themselves entangled in a web of secrets, conspiracy and corruption after they attempt to uncover the killer. Advertised by Revma as the "Latest Need to Watch Show", the series received widespread critical acclaim and high viewership ratings, becoming one of the platforms top telecasts to date. Overview Unlike other seasons, this season has only one arc for it's 10 episodes, although it features a months time-jump between "Snakes in the Garden" (Episode 9) and "Murder I Never Wanted to Commit" (Episode 10). The arc focuses on the aftermath of Charlotte Gibbins' murder, with both the police-force and Charlotte's four friends attempting to uncover the killer. Besides this from, each student has their own individual problem, which is A wide range of different characters, from friends to foes, help form the foundation of regular characters the duo meet throughout the show's future, as well as forming important connections to the show's several spin-offs. Episodes See also: List of Pandora episodes (2005–present) Casting S''ee also: List of Pandora cast members'' Callum Turner and Ashton Sanders portrayed Jacob and Conrad Lily respectively in this season. Bridgwater wanted to cast two upcoming actors in the role as a way to spark excitement and life in the show. The role of Jacob was originally offered to Josh Bowman however he had other commitments at the time (and since then regrets this). Ashton Sanders was the only actor considered by Bridgwater for the role of Conrad. Alexios and Cass, originally meant to be cast and used exclusively for voice acting in the show, were portrayed by Daniel Wu and Katherine Langford. Mark Daglish, the other executive producer for the show at this time, was adamant for the use of a female as one of the host-es in the show to give contrast to Wu's character, as well as diversity within the show. Strangely, when creating the last episode of the season (Invasion on Eden), Jacobs was in need of a twist and refresh, and hence asked the two actors if they wanted a physical role in the finale and potentially in the future (although a second season had not been confirmed then), in which they said yes. Heidi Clement, the "naive human" was portrayed by Lenora Crichlow after casting director Grant Burton suggested Crinchlow to Jacobs and Gaglish after seeing her performance in the BBC Three television show Being Human. Jacobs chose her for the role because she would walk best alongside Turner and Sanders and could be as loud as the other two. Other recurring characters for the series included Tequan Richmond as Yaguri, the host of Alexios and Cass' dark thoughts and actions; Julie Warner as Maria Lily, Jacob and Conrads mother; and Douglas Booth as Derek St Clair and Emily Alyn Lind as Dana Turner, the duo's best friends. Production Development The programme was announced on 1 October 2015. Steven Moffat executive-produces the programme. It was revealed on 27 April 2016 that Coal Hill was now an academy. Ed Bazalgette was the first director announced for the season. Philippa Langdale directed two episodes, Wayne Yip also directed a number of episodes for the season, and Julian Holmes directed the finale. Writing In the first season, the main writer alongside Russell T Davies was Chris Chibnall, creator of the BBC light drama show Born and Bred. Other writers include P.J. Hammond, Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who script editor Helen Raynor, Cath Tregenna, and Doctor Who cast member Noel Clarke, who gained acclaim for his screenplay for the film Kidulthood. Of the first two season, Russell T Davies wrote only the première episode.1040 Helen Raynor and Brian Minchin were the programme's script editors.41 Filming Principal photography for the season began on 18 July 2004 on location in Cardiff for "Rose".57 The season was filmed across South East Wales, mostly in or around Cardiff.58 Each episode took about two weeks to film.59 The start of filming created stress among the production team because of unseen circumstances: several scenes from the first block had to be re-shot because the original footage was unusable; the Slitheen prosthetics for "Aliens of London", "World War Three", and "Boom Town" were noticeably different from their computer-generated counterparts; and, most notably, the BBC came to a gridlock with the Terry Nation estate to secure the Daleks for the sixth episode of the season, to be written by Rob Shearman.60After the first production block, which Davies described as "hitting a brick wall", the show's production was markedly eased as the crew familiarised themselves.60Filming concluded on 23 March 2005.61 David Tennant, who was cast as Eccleston's replacement,29 recorded his appearance at the end of "The Parting of the Ways" on 21 April 200561 with a skeleton crew.62 Production blocks were arranged as follows: Release Promotion The first trailer of the season was shown on television and released online shortly after the broadcast of the second part of The End of Time on 1 January 2010.99 On 17 February, a new promotional image was released.100 A second trailer was released on 20 February,101 and a 3D version was shown in cinemas with Alice in Wonderland.102 Moffat confirmed the season' 3 April start date on the 19 March BBC Breakfast.103 That day, a trailer shown at the press screening of episode one was released online.104 BBC America, who would air the season in the United States, released an extended trailer on 21 March.105 Promotional touring for the season began on 29 March and ended the two days later, with Smith and Gillan presenting the first episode in Belfast, Inverness, Sunderland, Salford and Northampton.106 The first episode was screened in New York's Paley Center for Media and the Village East Movie Theatre on 14 April.107108 Broadcast The fifth season of Doctor Who debuted on BBC One on 3 April 2010103 with "The Eleventh Hour", an extended 65-minute episode.69 It concluded with "The Big Bang" on 26 June.109 The sixth episode ("The Vampires of Venice") was broadcast at 6:00 p.m. BST, the earliest start time for an episode of Doctor Who since its 2005 return.110 Extra Content DVD and Blu-ray releases Reception Ratings "Rose" received average overnight ratings of 9.9 million viewers, peaking at 10.5 million, respectively 43.2% and 44.3% of all viewers at that time. The final figure for the episode, including video recordings watched within a week of transmission, was 10.81 million, making it the third highest for BBC One that week and seventh across all channels. The opening episode was the highest rated episode of the first season.71103 The penultimate episode, "Bad Wolf", received the lowest viewers of the season with just 6.81 million viewers.104 The season also garners the highest audience Appreciation Index of any non-soap drama on television.105 Besides the second episode, "The End of the World", which garnered a 79% rating, the lowest of the season, all episodes received an AI above 80%. The season finale "The Parting of the Ways" was the highest rated episode with an AI of 89%.106 The success of the launch saw the BBC's Head of Drama Jane Tranter confirming on 30 March that the season would return both for a Christmas Special in December 2005 and a full second season in 2006.107 Critical reception and response season 5 received highly positive reviews from critics following its broadcast. Rotten Tomatoes gave the season 100% approval rating, and an average score of 8.25/10.193 Matt Wales of IGN gave the season a "great" rating of 8.5 out of 10, saying that it "mightn't have been perfect" but rebooted the show "with a burst of creative energy" and "got bold, exciting, witty, smart, home-grown event television back on the small screen". He praised Smith for "dazzling with a performance that painted the Doctor as thoroughly alien" and the Doctor's "effortless" character development, but was critical of the Amy Pond character. Although he considered her "thoroughly watchable" (particularly her chemistry with Smith), he criticised the character as "frequently painted in largely two-dimensional strokes that made for a brash, sometimes irritating turn" and the season as a whole for lacking "heart to ground the elaborate sci-fi trimmings". Wales praised Moffat's "beautifully conceived" story arc and the narrative's complexities. Awards and nominations Soundtrack Main Article: Pandora: Season 1 (soundtrack) Selected pieces of score from this series, as composed by Murray Gold, were released in a 3-CD set on 18 May 2015 by Silva Screen Records along with music from the 2014 Christmas special "Last Christmas".154